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I have a brother who
swears up and down that if he doesn’t bundle up while inside or when outside of
his home he will get a cold. Even when he sleeps, he covers every part of his
body with a hat, facemask, three layers of clothing, three layers of stockings,
gloves, and covers himself with five or six layers of bed coverings. I have
always thought he was eccentric and foolish. Now I have second thoughts.
Up to now, we have been told the common cold and flu were a result of
contact with another person who was sick, or touching items they had contaminated
and then touching your nose, eyes, or eating food without first washing my
hands.
However, New
research at Yale finds the rhinovirus responsible for the common cold is
more of an immune system problem than it’s a problem with the virus itself. They
found that the virus could reproduce itself more efficiently inside the cooler nose
than in the warmer temperatures of the body and lung. That’s important because
about 20% of us harbor rhinovirus in our nose.
Moreover, the lower
the temperature, it seems the lower the innate immune response to viruses. While
the common cold is no more than a nuisance for many people, it can cause severe
breathing problems for children with asthma. Future research may probe the
immune response to rhinovirus-induced asthma.”
So it’s important to follow contamination preventions in
order to reduce your risk of getting a cold, but it’s just as important to wear
layered clothing and a warm coat, a hat, gloves, appropriated footwear, keep
your nose warm under a scarf, and bundle up while inside your home as well.
The complete study was published in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
Copyright © 2015 Horatio Green
